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Text Twilight Sparkle walked slowly down the corridor, the lavender-colored unicorn shaking her head briskly as if to try and clear it, making her dark mane sway. Both it and her tail were run through with a line of bright pink and warm mauve; colors that seemed almost obscene in this humorless and sterile building. Her worried violet eyes glanced to the side, at the much-taller winged unicorn beside her: with her ivory coat, cutie mark of a brilliant sun, and the ever-flowing, almost-ethereal rainbow locks and tail that swayed through the air of their own accord, she was a regal and majestic figure even without the diadem and peytral plate she wore. Her amethyst eyes looked reassuringly down at Twilight, but the purple mare could only give the weakest of smiles up to her mentor, her teacher, her idol, Princess Celestia. The Princess of the Sun, who brought the day, who ruled all of Equestria... alone. They passed a group of lingering ponies in blue and white hospital gowns, one who was only staring vacantly at the ground, two who looked at them with hollow eyes. Twilight shuddered despite herself as she turned her head quickly away, then she grimaced as another pony shoved past them with a clipboard, half-muttering an apology and clad in a lab coat. "Are you alright, Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia asked quietly, and when Twilight managed the faintest of smiles as they continued down the corridor, the Princess of the Sun visibly softened. "I'm sorry. But there simply isn't anyone else, and... you were always close to..." Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, even as they continued down this seemingly-endless corridor, and Twilight shivered. She didn't know how to respond as she looked ahead, a tremble running through her body before Celestia forced her eyes open and gave a small smile, forcing some warmth back in her voice as she murmured: "Besides. You may be gifted in the realm of magic, Twilight..." A glance back at at the violet mare's cutie mark, of a six-pointed, reddish-pink star surrounded by white sparkles. "But you have a true gift for making and taking care of friends, too." "It's... it's okay, Princess Celestia, I'm just..." But before Twilight could finish, a graying unicorn emerged from a door ahead, irritably motioning away several other ponies in gowns with a clipboard held aloft by telekinesis before he glanced towards them and gestured almost curtly. The two fell quiet as they approached, and the unicorn studied them almost distastefully from behind his clip-on glasses as he tilted his head to the side, closing the door marked 'Window Room A1' almost completely with telekinesis. Then he sighed before gazing back and forth between the two as Twilight looked almost desperate and Celestia smiled weakly, the Princess of the Sun herself seeming humble and withdrawn as the doctor looked down at his clipboard before saying finally: "Well, we have some paperwork to sign, and I'd like to go over a few things with you, and then you can leave with him, I suppose." Twilight hesitated, and then, before she could stop herself, she said apprehensively: "You don't sound very... confident. Is... is he okay?" The doctor snorted at this, looking up almost irritably before he replied brusquely: "The patient has been in treatment for two years now with no significant signs of improvement. He's delusional, combative, suffers from bouts of depression and paranoia, and he has on several occasions gone into a psychotic delirium. But again, we've treated him for two years, he refuses to take his medications and lies about his health constantly, and now I have the Princess herself leaning on me to have him released from our care. No, I do not think he should be released, any more than I think he should be here. He should be locked up in Ward D, where he can talk to himself all he wants in a padded cell." "He's schizophrenic?" asked Twilight incredulously, leaning back and looking shocked: both by what she assumed the diagnosis was and the doctor's cold behavior. "Schizophrenic? Please. Not every mental patient suffers from schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder or other popular catchwords." The doctor retorted, looking irritated as he shook his head before glancing towards the door. "His condition stems from chronic anxiety, severe depression, and nightmares. The trauma of losing his fiancee simply pushed him over the edge, and he crafted these delusions and fantasies to try and desperately deny what happened." Celestia closed her eyes and lowered her head, and Twilight trembled a bit... and finally, the doctor relented a little, sighing softly as he lowered his clipboard and looked across at them quietly. "I'll be honest. He protects and clings to his psychological condition, and I don't... entirely hold it against him. It's a harsh world out there, and even though I strongly dislike him I sympathize. The only reason I'm willing to go ahead with this is because I hope that being in the real world helps cut through this shell he's formed, and helping him understand he's clinging to delusions, not reality, is the first step towards fixing what's wrong with him." "But... he does display schizotypal tendencies? Is that what the medication is for?" Twilight asked after a moment, even as she was trying to process things, and the doctor looked at her meditatively. "Fine. A little bit of my contempt is revoked." he said after a moment, and then he sighed and shook his head slowly. "No, the most important thing is to keep his anxiety levels low. And keep an eye on him... we've only had to stop him from hurting himself once or twice in the past, but the level of self-mutilation he came in with... it was severe enough to leave me extremely concerned about what he's capable of doing to himself." Twilight swallowed thickly, looking down as Celestia nodded slowly and murmured quietly: "It's why Twilight Sparkle has volunteered to keep an eye on him and help him adjust. He's going to stay with her in Ponyville... it's a quiet, small village, and I think it will be good for him to get out of Canterlot. He always liked Ponyville, just like... just like Luna did..." Twilight and Celestia both traded silent looks, thinking of that night, long ago, when the worst had come to pass. When Celestia's little sister and the Princess of the Night had gotten on the Friendship Express with a bright, happy smile to go to Ponyville... and in the morning, the wreckage of the train had been found at the bottom of a mountain gorge, with few survivors... and Luna dead. Her then-fiance had gone insane with grief over losing her, refused to believe it even now... but Luna had likely been napping, and there would have been no time to react anyway. The moment the tracks had given out, it had spelled the death of every pony except for a few who had survived by sheer stupid luck. And as Celestia and Twilight traded silent gazes, the doctor hesitated before he sighed and pulled a few sheets free of his clipboard, passing this to Twilight with telekinesis. "These are his medications, names of his doctors, and a schedule of appointments. He's all packed up and ready to go. Please make sure that he takes his medication... or at least the anti-anxiety meds. The only time we've ever made headway with his condition is through treating the anxiety, it's very important we keep that to a minimum." Twilight nodded slowly, taking the sheets in her own telekinetic grip as Celestia looked hesitantly towards the door, and then she said quietly: "Go ahead, Twilight Sparkle. I have a few more questions for the doctor." The violet mare smiled nervously, then she sighed after a moment and nodded, carefully turning to push through the door as the doctor and Celestia both watched her enter the room beyond. It was large and empty and somehow ghostly despite the light shining in through the massive picture window... a window made of reinforced, heavy-duty glass and crossed by heavy bars that looked ornamental, but clearly were there for more than decorative purposes. Only a single figure sat in the room, staring out the window: a large earth pony, with a charcoal, dirty coat and a ragged white mane and tail. She could see his cutie mark on his haunch, and she smiled faintly as she slowly, nervously strode towards him, looking down and studying this: a black rose blossom, with a black raven feather quill overtop. His talent was for writing... his dark but romantic poetry had been much of what had won Luna's heart. As she approached, he looked up a bit, but didn't turn, and Twilight swallowed a little as she drew up beside him and carefully put the sheets aside for a moment, simply sitting beside the earth pony. She looked at him slowly, shivering a little as she always did: scars covered his body, from the hoof-shaped marring on one side of his face to slashes and lines across his strong frame. He wasn't handsome... but she didn't find him ugly, either. He was hard for her to look at, not because of the pity and sadness and pain she felt for him, or because of the unattractive scarring that distorted his strong frame... but because once she started looking at him, she found it hard to look away. Slowly, his chestnut eyes turned towards her, meeting hers for a few moments: they studied each other, and then Twilight trembled before she slipped over beside him and hugged him fiercely around the neck, closing her eyes and burying her face against him as she whispered: "We're gonna leave, okay, Scrivener Blooms? We're gonna go back to Ponyville, and we're going to work through this together. I have a room in the library set up for you, and... we're going to work through this." Scrivener only lowered his head silently, not speaking, and then he finally sighed and reached a hoof up, halfheartedly returning the embrace as he whispered: "I'm not crazy, Twilight. This... this is all wrong, that's all." "It's okay. We can talk about it after we get out of here, okay? You can talk as long as you want with me, and I'll listen to every word and try to understand..." Twilight hesitated, then she slowly pulled back, looking up at him almost pleadingly. "But... Scrivy. Can't... can't you at least try and see that... these fantasies, they're not real. I know I can't imagine what you're going through, but-" Scrivener only grunted and half-turned away, and Twilight quieted before the earth pony stood and stepped back from her, the violet mare dropping her head forwards as the stallion picked up a small cloth satchel and quickly slipped it onto himself, muttering: "It's real, Twilight, and it's the only thing I'm sure of these days. Look, let's... let's just get out of here, okay?" Twilight hesitated, and then she looked silently over Scrivener before nodding slowly to him, picking up the sheets of paper. She smiled a little as she tucked these into the satchel hanging at his side, and the earth pony looked over at her for a few moments before he closed his eyes and bowed his head, mumbling: "Thank you, though." "It's... it's really Princess Celestia, not me, who got you out of here, Scrivener." Twilight said finally, smiling faintly before she looked ahead towards the door, hearing the doctor and Celestia talking, but not paying any attention to their words as she murmured: "You and Luna were such good friends to me. Besides, it'll be... I'm glad to help." Scrivener nodded and lowered his gaze, then he sighed softly as he strode behind Twilight Sparkle, following her to the door as the voices outside quieted a little. The two stepped out into the long hallway, and Scrivener and the doctor glared at each other for a moment before the charcoal stallion's attention was drawn by Celestia, as she bowed her head towards him and said quietly: "It's good to see you, Scrivener Blooms." "You too, Celestia." Scrivener said after a moment, studying her before he sighed a little and bowed his head quietly, closing his eyes. "Let's please get out of here. I'm... anxious to get out of here." "Wait. Scrivener." the doctor said clearly, and Scrivener sighed even as he looked up and across at the psychiatrist. "Please remember to take your medication... and even as an outpatient, you still need to come in for counseling and regular interviews. I'll be requesting blood work to be done, too, to make sure you're taking your medication... and keep in mind that if you act out outside of this facility, you could end up in jail, not back here at CIMH. You don't want that, do you?" "I don't want a lot of things." Scrivener muttered, looking irritably across at the doctor before he nodded slowly, dropping his gaze. "Right. I already promised to behave, didn't I?" "You did, but I wanted to make sure anyway." For a moment, the doctor paused... and then he sighed and reached a hoof up, touching Scrivener's shoulder gently and looking across into his eyes when the charcoal stallion looked silently up. "Take care of yourself." Scrivener only closed his eyes in return, and then he shook his head slowly before turning to leave. Twilight hurried after him, and Princess Celestia gave a faint smile and nod to the doctor before she turned to follow the two out of the endless hall. Top ↑ Category:Transcript Category:Story